Six Reasons Why Most Home Based Businesses Fail
Every day thousands of people are looking to get out of the "rat race" to work at home. Most of those people want to get started on a home based business so badly that they do not always make wise decisions in choosing a home based business opportunity. As a result, many fail miserably and are left worse off then before they started. This, of course, does not need to be the case.

It is very possible, and doesn't have to be all that hard, to find a legitimate home based business opportunity. As discussed in my previous article, "Why Do Most Home Based Businesses Fail?" there are five major reasons most home based businesses will never work.

In this article I am going to give you six more reasons why your home based business will fail, if you are not careful when choosing:

#1 - Most new opportunities do not help you make money. They will give you some ideas for making money, but then leave you out in the cold by having you do everything on your own. There simply is no good support system. Nobody should be a part of a business opportunity without a good support system.

A good support system should include at least some of the following; Good leaders, help forums, ongoing training, conference calls, marketing tools, suggested resources, ebooks, blogs, FAQ’s, etc... Basically they should have many ways to help you as much as possible with any question you might have.

#2 - Unfortunately, some home business opportunity owners will take your money and run. There are too many fly-by-night operations out there that will not hesitate to scam you. The problem is their promotions sound just as good as the legitimate opportunities. To avoid this, you should be very skeptical about each home business based business opportunity you are presented, examine and research them carefully, and then make an informed decision.

#3 - Some home based business opportunities will have you working long hours for little pay. This is a good way to get burned out, tired, frustrated, and eventually quit. Why become part of a home based business opportunity that is like a regular job? Of course, with any home business, you will have to put in a lot of time, energy, and resources for the first year or more, with little in return. But don't get that confused with an opportunity that you will never make any real money in, no matter what you do.

#4 - Many home business opportunities offer products nobody really wants.

David Cameron hosts business forum in Salford as battle over economy hots up
David Cameron met business leaders at a Conservative forum today to discuss how to lead Britain out of recession
Builders tempt homebuyers with 'no bills' offer
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/46127?ns=guardian&pageName=Money%3A+Builders+tempt+homebuyers+with+%27no+bills%27+offer&ch=Money&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Property%2CHousehold+bills%2CEnergy+bills%2CMoney%2CConstruction+industry+%28Business%29%2CHousing+market+%28Business%29%2CBusiness%2CUK+news&c5=Personal+Finance%2CCredit+Crunch%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CBusiness+Markets%2CEnergy%2CEthical+Living%2CProperty+Mortgages+and+Interest+Rates&c6=Lisa+Bachelor&c7=2009_01_06&c8=1142815&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Money&c12=Property&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FMoney%2FProperty" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>Homebuyers are being offered 18 months of free gas, electricity and water bills in what is likely to be the first of many bribes offered by desperate housebuilders this year.</p><p></p><p>Barratt Homes and its subsidiary David Wilson are offering to supply homebuyers with gas, electricity and water free of charge, and pay their council tax bills, until the summer of 2010 on developments in Lincolnshire and Derbyshire.</p><p></p><p>The average household's annual gas and electricity bill is £1,293, according to uSwitch.com, though good insulation in a new-build property means this is usually lower for those households. The average annual water bill is £330.</p><p></p><p>"Paying utility bills is one of the biggest variables in most household's disposable income," said James Poynor, sales director at Barratt North Midlands. "When gas and electricity prices are as high as they are now everyone feels the strain."</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, Notting Hill London, the private housing division of the Notting Hill Housing Group, is offering to kit new flats out with a bed, sofa, wardrobe, table and chairs and other essential furniture on some apartments in one of its gated residential developments in north London.</p><p></p><p>The bribes are not the first that desperate developers have offered in a bid to attract buyers - in September Barratt's rival Persimmon made <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/sep/27/property.mortgages.barratt" title="">a similar offer to pay buyers' household bills</a> and in the summer a consortium of housebuilders in Devon were offering to throw in a free car with every flat bought.</p><p></p><p>Last November, upmarket property developer Fivewalk Homes offered an Aston Martin to anyone buying one of its £1.25m properties. To date, no one has taken it up on the deal. "The offer is still open and we are prepared to offer the equivalent cash amount off the property if preferred," said a spokeswoman for the company.</p><p></p><p>Such offers were made in a year when <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/jan/06/house-prices-fall-in-december" title="">house prices tumbled by an average 16%</a>, according to the Nationwide, and with commentators expecting further price falls this year housebuilders are expected to come up with ever more inventive deals.</p><p></p><p>"Clearly it is a very challenging time for housebuilders and they are trying to maintain or increase their market share from the market that is still there," said Steve Turner of the Home Builders Federation.</p><p></p><p>According to senior government housing officials, the number of new homes built in Britain this year <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/dec/28/construction-industry-housing-market" title="">will fall below 80,000</a>. If this dire prediction is borne out, 2009 will be one of the worst years for the housebuilding industry for a century, and will exacerbate Britain's housing crisis.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/property">Property</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/householdbills">Household bills</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/energy">Energy bills</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/construction">Construction industry</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/housingmarket">Housing market</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231244525184010612285842080"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231244525184010612285842080" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
Saving is getting harder as the best-buy tables are topped with unfamiliar names
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/64930?ns=guardian&pageName=Money%3A+What%27s+in+a+name%3F&ch=Money&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Savings+%28Money%29%2CMoney%2CInterest+rates+%28Money%29&c5=Personal+Finance%2CProperty+Mortgages+and+Interest+Rates&c6=Sam+Dunn&c7=2009_01_06&c8=1142399&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Money&c12=blog&c13=&c14=Money+blog&h2=GU%2FMoney%2Fblog%2FMoney+blog" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>Who is Julian Hodge and would you entrust your life's savings to his bank? Or how do you feel about handing over fistfuls of spare dollars to FirstSave, Nigeria's finest? Maybe, as a soft compromise, you might settle for wiring your wonga to an account with Anglo Irish where every penny, not just £50,000, is guaranteed by the Irish government.</p><p>Anyone hunting the very best in easy-access or fixed savings rates must today ask themselves these questions and endure hours of internet research and fact-finding to secure peace of mind for their money.</p><p>As the Tories and Labour draw the battle lines over who will do the most to help savers battered by crashing interest rates, in the best-buy tables UK banks and building socities have, perhaps only temporarily, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/jan/05/savings-tax">ceded dominance to overseas providers</a>. Top of Moneyfacts's tables for easy access accounts is Anglo Irish offering 4.55%, while top of the best-buy fixed rates is ICICI, the giant Indian savings bank, touting 5.1%; other featured institutions include Julian Hodge Bank and FirstSave.</p><p>Making sure you do extra homework with overseas banks is neither xenophobia nor bias against small financial institutions who usually bury their financial lights deep beneath a bushel: it is simply a case of being able to rest easy as you save.</p><p>At one remove, this is a positive development: it can only do us good to properly investigate those financial bodies to whom we're happy to give our cash and if we learn plenty along the way - the strength of a country's banking system, how it's rated by credit agencies, rates of interest across a whole spectrum of accounts, whether it's as comprehensively regulated as UK banks - then more's the better. But it's another layer of complexity for savers who are already struggling at the moment. Do you think it's worth it? Or have you just opted to hold your cash with a household name - no matter how poor the rate on offer?</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/savings">Savings</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/interestrates">Interest rates</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231244525209010612285842080"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231244525209010612285842080" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
Deborah Arnott: How the FSA got financial regulation wrong
Deborah Arnott: We should have taught bankers the same lesson we taught consumers: if it looks too good to be true, it almost certainly is
Property: British second-home owners suffer as French house prices fall
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/51628?ns=guardian&pageName=Money%3A+The+French+correction%3A+Falling+house+prices+sting+expat+owners&ch=Money&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Buying+property+abroad%2CHouse+prices+%28Money%29%2CForeign+currency+%28Money%29%2CMoney%2CBusiness%2CHousing+market+%28Business%29%2CProperty&c5=Personal+Finance%2CCredit+Crunch%2CBusiness+Markets%2CProperty+Mortgages+and+Interest+Rates&c6=Peter+Davy&c7=2009_01_06&c8=1142284&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Money&c12=Buying+property+abroad&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FMoney%2FBuying+property+abroad" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>Back in April last year, the IMF warned that after the crash in Spain, French property, along with the UK and Ireland, was "particularly vulnerable" to a fall. But while Britain and Ireland saw steep declines, France seemed to carry on regardless. In the 12 months to July, according to the French National Estate Agents Federation (Fnaim), property prices overall were still up by 1.7%, with the strongest places continuing to report gains.</p><p>For many Brits ? and they are estimated to own more than 75,000 second homes in France ? it has been the only chink of light in the overwhelming property gloom, which has seen prices in the UK <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/02/halifax-house-prices" title="">fall by as much as 16% </a>.</p><p>However, that has now changed. Sales have dropped off sharply over the past few months, with Fnaim noting in September that "the brutality of the slowdown" had surprised seasoned observers. In December the association's executive director, Henry Buzy-Cazaux, told French radio that agents were faced with a 20%-25% fall in activity since the beginning of the year.</p><p>This has begun to hit prices: the third quarter saw falls of 1.3% and Fnaim expects prices to have finished 2008 around 5% down. Estate agent <a href="http://english.laforet.com/" title="">Laforêt Immobilier</a>, which has 875 offices throughout France, puts the figure at 10%. No one now seriously expects anything but further falls in 2009.</p><p>"I think [the] next year will be very hard," says agent Leo Attias, who heads up Fnaim's Paris office. The problem is credit ? while French banks avoided the sub-prime crisis hitting America and the UK, they are worried about the possibility of rising unemployment. Lending criteria for mortgages ? already strict by UK standards ? have been further tightened by lenders. "They are very reluctant," says Attias.</p><h2>Rural problems</h2><p>Outside Paris and the cities, and particularly in the rural areas favoured by the British, the problems are likely to be even worse. Charles Gillooley is manager of estate agent <a href="http://www.immobilier-causses-vezere.com/english/index.php?page=3" title="">Immobilier Causses et Vézère</a> in Thenon, and president of Fnaim for the Dordogne. His region has the highest density of British people in the country, and if you ask how the market was in 2008 you get a one-word answer: "Hard". Agents are reporting sales down by 50% and prices down a quarter. "France is going the same way as the others," he says, adding that many properties simply won't sell.</p><p>In rural areas the problem is not just the credit crunch but the exchange rate, which has seen the British, who make up as much of a third of the market, pull out. For them, even a 20% drop in prices has not made owning a second property in France any cheaper.</p><p>"There was a gradual decline in transactions since the start of the year, but it has been much steeper since September," says another agent selling in the region, Jerry O'Neil at <a href="http://www.premierfrenchproperty.com/" title="">Premier French Property</a>.</p><p>How much worse it will get is debatable; as O'Neil notes, there sometimes seem to be as many forecasts for property in France as there are economists. In the end, though, it may depend on which part of France you look at. In the cities where there is strong domestic demand, particularly in Paris and Nice, many argue that 2009 will only see modest falls. "It is likely they will drop a little, but we are not anticipating double-digit falls," says Laurence Boone, an economist in the Paris office of Barclays Capital.</p><p>Boone says the French market is very different from those elsewhere in Europe and as such, may not be hit as badly. Yes, prices in many parts of France have boomed in recent years, doubling in the past decade alone. At the end of the third quarter the average house price outside the Paris area was ?196,000 (£183,500). But they have lagged behind both Britain and Spain.</p><p>Furthermore, the banks have stuck to their policy of prudent lending. A typical French mortgage is for 70% of a property's value, has a term of 15 years at a fixed rate, and banks generally insist that repayments account for no more than a third of the borrower's take-home pay. That means there are unlikely to be repossessions on a level being witnessed in the UK. Finally, without the sort of building boom seen in Spain, there is no question of over-supply in the French market.</p><p>Fnaim suggests prices could drop by 10% over the next year. In some places, though, there could still be a fair deal of pain ahead ? much will depend on the fate of the pound.</p><p>Andrew Sutton bought a villa just outside Villeréal in south-west France in June. Like many others, he took out a mortgage in France and has been hit by sterling's slide ? at the start of last year £1 bought ?1.34; by the end of the year it bought just ?1.04. At the moment, he says, this is making life less comfortable, if bearable, for British owners in the area. The real worry, though, is if the situation continues.</p><p>"My major concern is that this trend goes on to see the pound and euro reach parity," says Sutton. "If that happened it could have quite a serious effect here." For now, the French market is still holding out against a crash, but for many British buyers, at least, there is still some way to go before they are out of the woods.</p><h2>Case study: A Brit abroad </h2>Margot Parker from Ealing recently bought a one-bedroom flat in Paris with her boyfriend Jean-Marc Eskdale. She says a temporary fall in its value doesn't really bother her. They wanted a foot on the French housing ladder since they eventually plan to move there, and were not looking to make a quick profit. "We are in it for the long term," Parker explains.</p><p>The exchange rate, on the other hand, has had a more immediate impact. When the couple started negotiations on their flat, the rate was about ?1.4 to the pound. By the time they completed in August it was ?1.31 and has since slid even further. After just a couple of months it is costing them £150 a month extra on the mortgage.</p><p>Fortunately, the payment is still affordable for them: when they were planning the purchase they checked that they would be OK even if the pound and euro reached parity. "We did it on what we thought was the worst-case scenario," laughs Eskdale.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/buyingpropertyabroad">Buying property abroad</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/houseprices">House prices</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/foreigncurrency">Foreign currency</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/housingmarket">Housing market</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/property">Property</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231244525374010612285842080"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231244525374010612285842080" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
UK house prices: a regional breakdown
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/22358?ns=guardian&pageName=Money%3A+UK+house+prices%3A+a+regional+breakdown&ch=Money&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=House+prices+%28Money%29%2CProperty%2CMoney%2CHousing+market+%28Business%29%2CBusiness%2CUK+news&c5=Personal+Finance%2CCredit+Crunch%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CBusiness+Markets%2CProperty+Mortgages+and+Interest+Rates&c6=Hilary+Osborne&c7=2009_01_06&c8=1142606&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Money&c12=House+prices&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FMoney%2FHouse+prices" width="1" height="1" /></div><h2>England</h2><p>House prices fell by 14.8% in England last year, with the last three months of the year seeing a 4.8% decline. Homeowners in East Anglia saw the biggest fall in the value of their homes, with prices dropping by 16.6% over the year to an average of £153,080.</p><p>London and its surrounding regions also took a hammering as affordability pressures and job losses took their toll. Prices in the capital fell by more than 15%, although Nationwide said the falls had not reached the pace of the early 1990s crash when it recorded an annual fall of 16.7%. London remains the most expensive place to buy a home in England with an average price of £257,963, compared to a country-wide average of £171,924.</p><p>Four out of five of the British cities that saw the largest price falls were in England, with Bristol, Bradford, Northampton and Norwich all recording a 17% drop.</p><p>Asked about the prospects for house prices over the next six months, consumers told Nationwide they expected to see falls across England, with the largest drop - 6.2% - expected in the West Midlands. Nationwide's chief economist, Fionnuala Earley, said: "Consumers' views about the direction of house prices generally seem to concur with other macroeconomic data, although the relative magnitude of changes recorded are a little mixed.</p><p>"Within England, London and the south-east might expect to be affected badly due to the combination of an employment shake-out in the financial sector and stretched affordability relative to other regions."</p><h2>Northern Ireland</h2><p>After two years of massive growth, a correction in Northern Ireland was on the cards in 2008, and it came when prices dropped by a staggering 34.2% over the year, according to Nationwide.</p><p>At the start of the year the average house price in the region was £224,816; by the end of the year it was £147,833. Perhaps unsurprisingly Belfast is top of the list of biggest fallers, recording a 33% drop over the last 12 months. However, houses in the city are still much more expensive than the rest of Northern Ireland - and the UK as a whole - costing an average £203,942.</p><p>Across Northern Ireland the rate of price falls slowed as the year went on, with prices dropping by 7.4% in the last quarter of the year following three quarters of double-digit drops.</p><p>A survey of consumers in Northern Ireland found that while 9% of people expected prices to increase in the next six months, the average expectation was a 6.9% fall in values. Earley said: "Realistically one might expect Northern Ireland to remain the worst affected region in 2009, given the especially severe overshoot of house prices relative to earnings in the province during the boom years."</p><h2>Scotland</h2><p>Of all the UK regions Scotland saw the smallest fall in house prices last year with a decline of 8.1%, according to Nationwide. During the final quarter of the year prices actually rose, albeit it by just 0.1%, making it the only UK region to see a rise in prices last year. The average price of a home in Scotland is now £138,941, compared with £151,178 at the end of 2007.</p><p>Of the three main cities in Scotland, Aberdeen saw the largest annual fall of 11%, closely followed by Glasgow at 10%. In Edinburgh, where prices are highest, values fell by just 6%. For the second quarter running the largest year-on-year fall was in Renfrewshire and Inverclyde where prices were down by 15%.</p><p>Nationwide's consumer survey found Scotland was the most optimistic part of the UK with 11% of people believing prices will increase in the next six months. It was the only part of the UK where fewer than half of those questioned said they expected prices to fall.</p><h2>Wales</h2><p>Across Wales house prices fell by 12.1% in 2008, reducing the average price of a home to £136,174, according to Nationwide. In the last quarter of the year prices dropped by 2.4%, less than the 4.4% fall seen across the UK as a whole. Prices have fallen in every region of Wales, but some have been harder hit than others. In the south-east Nationwide said prices were down by 20% at the end of the year, while in the north and south-west falls were below 10%.</p><p>Despite a 10% decline in prices over the year, Cardiff remains the most expensive place to buy with an average price of £188,089. The cheapest area is south Wales (east) where the average house price has fallen to £141,654.</p><p>Consumers questioned by Nationwide said they expected prices to fall by an average of 6.3% over the next six months. The society said: "A continued fall in prices in Wales seems likely given economic conditions. Business surveys suggest a sharp reduction in the private sector workforce in Wales as output has fallen. However, the larger proportion of public sector employment in Wales is likely to protect it somewhat and help support the housing market relative to other regions."</p><h2>Top city fallers</h2><p>Belfast: prices down 33% on Q4 of 2007 to £203,942</p><p>Bristol: Prices down 17% to £199,587</p><p>Bradford: prices down 17% to £144,881</p><p>Northampton: prices down 17% to £156,425</p><p>Norwich: prices down 17% to £169,898</p><h2>Lowest city fallers</h2><p>Durham: prices down 4% on Q4 of 2007 to £147,188</p><p>Edinburgh: prices down 6% to £241,617</p><p>Leicester: prices down 7% to £154,787</p><p>Birmingham: prices down 9% to £164,939</p><p>Newcastle: prices down 9% to £162,863</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/houseprices">House prices</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/property">Property</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/housingmarket">Housing market</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231244525401010612285842080"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231244525401010612285842080" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
House prices fall by 16% year-on-year
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/16529?ns=guardian&pageName=Money%3A+House+prices+fall+by+16%25+in+2008&ch=Money&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=House+prices+%28Money%29%2CProperty%2CMoney%2CHousing+market+%28Business%29%2CBusiness%2CUK+news&c5=Personal+Finance%2CCredit+Crunch%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CBusiness+Markets%2CProperty+Mortgages+and+Interest+Rates&c6=Hilary+Osborne&c7=2009_01_06&c8=1142568&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Money&c12=House+prices&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FMoney%2FHouse+prices" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>House prices fell by 15.9% in 2008, Nationwide said today - the biggest annual drop since the society began publishing its index in 1991.</p><p>December saw a 2.5% fall in prices - the second biggest monthly fall of the year after May, when prices were down 2.6%. The drop follows a 0.4% fall in November, which seemed to suggest the rate of decline was easing.</p><p>The snapshot of house prices from the UK's biggest building society showed that by the end of last year the average price of a UK home had fallen by £29,000 to £153,048.</p><p>Nationwide's figures are broadly in line with those <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/02/halifax-house-prices">published last week by the UK's largest lender, Halifax</a>.</p><p>It reported that prices had dropped by 16.2% over the course of last year, with a 2.2% fall in December alone. Its index put the average price of a home at the close of last year at £159,900 - 20% below its peak in the summer of 2007.</p><p>Nationwide's chief economist, Fionnuala Earley, said 2008 had been a "year of turmoil" in the UK housing market. </p><p>"The disruption in the financial markets worsened throughout 2008 and had larger implications for the real economy than we anticipated a year ago. </p><p>"This time last year we expected the housing market to cool quickly as affordability was poor and economic conditions looked set to weaken, but we did not anticipate the speed of house price falls or the extent of the global and domestic economic slowdown."</p><p>Last month, the society said it would be <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/dec/19/nationwide-halifax-house-price-predictions">ditching its annual forecast for house prices</a> as a result of the uncertain economic outlook.</p><p>Earley today reiterated that position, saying volatile conditions made it more difficult than usual to estimate what would happen to the market over the coming year.</p><p>"In these unsettled times a forecast subject to frequent change could itself add to greater uncertainty," she said.</p><p>However, she said that tighter lending conditions and the fact that homes remained unaffordable for some people suggested prices would have to fall further before significant numbers of buyers returned to the market. </p><p>"In terms of house price expectations, current sentiment of borrowers and lenders is still fairly low," she said.</p><p>"Until the economy and the labour market stabilise, it is hard to imagine households becoming upbeat about the immediate future for house prices and this will hinder the pace of recovery."</p><h2>Looking ahead</h2><p>Nationwide said prices had fallen in all regions of the UK during 2008, although the rate of decline varied hugely. While Northern Ireland recorded a 34% drop in prices, the Scottish market dropped by just 8%.</p><p>In England the largest fall was in East Anglia, where prices were down by 16.6%, followed by London and the south-east where prices dropped by more than 15%. The smallest drop was in the north of the country, where prices were down 11% year-on-year.</p><p>Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight, said the figures completed "a dismal year" for the housing market. </p><p>He predicts that prices will fall by a further 15% this year, taking the average to £130,091 on Nationwide's measure, and said the data increased the likelihood of further large interest rate cuts. </p><p>"The ongoing deep problems of the housing market maintains pressure on the Bank of England to deliver another deep interest rate cut on Thursday, although mortgage lenders are likely to be increasingly unwilling to pass on much of any further interest rate cuts," he said.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/houseprices">House prices</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/property">Property</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/housingmarket">Housing market</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231244525438010612285842080"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231244525438010612285842080" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
Polly Toynbee: It might sound appealing, but this is populist poison
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/97936?ns=guardian&pageName=Comment+is+free%3A+It+might+sound+appealing%2C+but+this+is+populist+poison&ch=Comment+is+free&c3=The+Guardian&c4=David+Cameron%2CConservatives%2CEconomic+policy%2CPolitics%2CEconomics+%28Business%29%2CRecession+%28UK%29%2CCredit+crunch+%28Business%29%2CSaving+money+%28Money%29%2CTax+%28Money%29%2CTax+and+spending%2CMoney%2CBusiness%2CUK+news&c5=Personal+Finance%2CCredit+Crunch%2CBusiness+Markets%2CNot+commercially+useful&c6=Polly+Toynbee&c7=2009_01_06&c8=1142531&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Comment+is+free&c12=blog&c13=&c14=Comment+is+free&h2=GU%2FComment+is+free%2Fblog%2FComment+is+free" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>The ideological gap just yawned yet wider as David Cameron sprang into the New Year with tigerish ferocity. The longer Labour is in power, he said, the worse it gets - for the economy, national debt, crime, education, welfare dependency, the health service and family breakdown; all worse, worse, worse. Broken Britain needs an election now when "change is going to come". But president-elect Barack Obama, Cameron is certainly not. As the new president plans a trillion-dollar Keynesian stimulus in the United States economy, Cameron retreats into Thatcher's 1980s. Every time he speaks, he climbs deeper into the recesses of her handbag economics, preaching thrift and a bonfire of public spending.</p><p>He is right that this year things can only get much worse: every economic commentator says so. Any government seeking re-election after a year like 2009 with three million unemployed and gaping black holes in high street shopfronts can expect an uphill struggle. On the face of it, Cameron should walk it with constant finger-pointing - who was at the wheel when the economy crashed? Revenge is a strong voting motive. Superficially, he has all the best lines. The question is whether his phoney economics fool enough of the people enough of the time. </p><p>Yesterday's speech extolled the moral case for saving and thrift, "where government and citizens live within their means, save for a rainy day, waste not, want not". How well that chimes with the current mood, in which the worried rein in spending and even the comfortable indulge in frugality chic. It chimes with the bishops' call for less shopping and more praying. It chimes with commonsense instinct: in hard times pull in your horns, don't borrow, don't spend; hide under the duvet until it's all over. So when Cameron ratchets up the rhetoric by calling the VAT cut "an absolutely criminal waste of public money", plenty of voters will nod in agreement. Labour's &pound;12.5bn cash splurge did feel odd. When Cameron claims: "We are in this mess because of too much government debt", it sounds plausible. When he offers &pound;5bn in tax cuts for penny-wise savers by taking money out of current spending to salt away in savings accounts, that too may seem like prudent policy. All this goes with the grain of human instinct - and Labour has yet to find resonant language to challenge it.</p><p>Cameron's plan for retrenchment is economically illiterate, and would be frighteningly dangerous if he were in power. But it's hard to explain why thrift is not the answer in a punchy political message. Keynesianism is counter-intuitive: he wrote himself about the problem of the "thrift paradox" - persuading people and governments to spend, lend and invest at a time when every fibre of their being urges slamming on the brakes. But let's examine why the Cameron prescription is part populism, part poison and part snake-oil: since he's not stupid, presumably he knows it. </p><p>Take his plan for a loan guarantee to let banks lend again with the state as guarantor. It sounds good - indeed, the government has already said it will do the same, responding to the Crosby report. Cameron's deceit, in his eagerness to cut borrowing, is to pretend he can do it cost-free by raising interest rates enough to cover any losses from failed loans. Nonsense, say those working on the scheme. To make it self-financing, he would have to raise the loan interest rates to many times their present rate, and no one would want them. Guaranteeing loans, some of which would fail, costs some &pound;2bn - but in Cameron's fantasy economics he pretends he can both fix this crisis and cut spending.</p><p>Take his key claim that Britain's debt "puts us in a much weaker position than other countries". Is that true? Ask the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies - by no means always a friend of Gordon Brown's previous economic policies - and here's their verdict: of the G7 richest nations, only Canada has a lower stock of debt than the UK. The US, France, Germany, Japan and Italy have even higher debts than the sizeable 57% of gross domestic product Labour now plans. Compared with all the leading economies, the UK is still only in the middle of the debt table. So yes, we can well afford to borrow more to avoid the worst of this year's cataclysm - and that is the right thing to do. What of Cameron's plan? To make a sudden &pound;5bn cut in spending this April is an anti-stimulus at a time when money needs to be spent. The Institute for Fiscal Studies warns that the only way to cut quickly is to axe whatever is easiest with random destruction, without rational planning. </p><p>Was the VAT cut "a criminal waste"? The IFS says it was the best way to get money out there fast. What of Cameron's plan to encourage saving with tax cuts? Not a bad idea, but absolutely not in the depth of recession. For years the IFS has criticised Brown for adding to national debt by failing to raise enough tax to cover his higher spending in the good years. Now, the IFS's Carl Emmerson says: "But even if he had, that slight cushion would no way have insulated us from this crisis." </p><p>Cameron's proposed cuts in public services would be disastrous in a year like this. He would ring-fence only NHS, schools and defence spending, while from April he would cut planned spending on everything else. But how could he cut Department for Work and Pensions funds as unemployment claimants soar? Why cut the big rise in apprenticeships, just as the young are leaving school to sign on? How do you create jobs if all infrastructure is cut back? (His high-speed rail would take years to set up - and it needs state funds.) During the last Tory government, average capital spending was just 0.6% - while Labour has spent more than 2%, the price of repairing 20 years of public squalor. Labour's plan to bring forward &pound;10bn of capital spending to create 100,000 jobs is a vital necessity.</p><p>Labour relies on real economics winning over the plausible lie in the long run. After all, the Confederation of British Industry, the International Monetary Fund and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development all urge Keynesian policies, with Barack Obama leading the way. Labour's serious problem is that no one will ever be able to prove whether what they did worked: if the recession is less deep, were these debts really necessary? Economists will argue for years, but nobody will ever know how much worse things might have been, had Cameron been in power.</p><p><a href="mailto:polly.toynbee@guardian.co.uk">polly.toynbee@guardian.co.uk</a></p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/davidcameron">David Cameron</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/conservatives">Conservatives</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/economy">Economic policy</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/economics">Economics</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/recession">Recession</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/creditcrunch">Credit crunch</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/saving-money">Saving money</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/tax">Tax</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/taxandspending">Tax and spending</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Commentisfree&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231244525490010612285842080"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Commentisfree&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231244525490010612285842080" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
Cameron offers savings tax cut plus clamp on public spending
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/23972?ns=guardian&pageName=Politics%3A+Cameron+offers+savings+tax+cut+plus+clamp+on+public+spending&ch=Politics&c3=The+Guardian&c4=David+Cameron%2CConservatives%2CEconomic+policy%2CGordon+Brown%2CTax+and+spending%2CPolitics%2CCredit+crunch+%28Business%29%2CSmall+business+%28Business%29%2CBanking+%28Business%29%2CRecession+%28UK%29%2CBusiness%2CBanks+and+building+societies%2CSavings+%28Money%29%2CIncome+tax%2CTax+%28Money%29%2CMoney%2CUK+news%2CPublic+services+policy+%28Society%29%2CPublic+finance+%28Society%29%2CSociety&c5=Society+Weekly%2CUnclassified%2CPersonal+Finance%2CInvestments%2CCredit+Crunch%2CPolicy+Society%2CBusiness+Markets%2CNot+commercially+useful&c6=Patrick+Wintour&c7=2009_01_06&c8=1142525&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Politics&c12=David+Cameron&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FPolitics%2FDavid+Cameron" width="1" height="1" /></div><p> David Cameron took the side of savers hit by tumbling interest rates yesterday and promised to abolish tax on the savings income of all basic-rate taxpayers. He also promised to lift personal allowances for pensioners by &pound;2,000 a year. </p><p>Pounded by Labour charges of offering a do-nothing approach to the crisis, the Tory leader said that he wanted to help the "innocent victims" of the recession.</p><p>Cameron also toughened his approach to public spending, by proposing for the first time that its growth in the financial year 2009-10 be cut from 3.4% to 2.6%, saving &pound;5bn. Setting out a plan for Conservative government, he said spending on schools, health, defence and international development would be maintained at Labour's planned levels, meaning projected spending in other departments could grow only 1% in real terms, instead of the 4.1% planned by Labour. Cameron said he did not think 1% unreasonable. </p><p> But his move imposes tight constraints on departments such as the Home Office, Ministry of Justice, business department, and communities department. George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, pointed out that public spending would still be rising by &pound;25bn under the Tory regime, as opposed to &pound;30bn, leading Tory rightwingers to claim that Cameron was not doing enough to break with Labour spending or borrowing. </p><p>The chief secretary to the Treasury, Yvette Cooper, said it was "economic madness" to slow public spending - the Conservatives were isolated internationally, she claimed. Downing Street was last night pointing to reports that Germany is planning a &pound;50bn fiscal stimulus.</p><p>But Cameron is increasingly bold in advocating tighter spending, and has already proposed a lower level than the government plan for 2010-11. The country, he said, was facing a "catastrophic legacy of debt and disrepair"; he sometimes wanted to shake Gordon Brown, he said, to get him to understand his errors.</p><p>Cameron put his proposals in the context of a wider claim about the need for an economy that is more balanced, and not so tilted towards housing, the public sector and financial services. </p><p>He published reports on creating green technology incubators, and buidling the world's first trading market for environmental companies. He also revealed a review into how to give every home ultra-fast broadband within a decade. Brown is proposing a green and digital infrastructure renewal programme this spring.</p><p>The Tory leader's move came ahead of Thursday's meeting of the Bank of England monetary policy committee, expected to cut interest rates to possibly 1%, the lowest since the Bank's formation in 1694. A cut from the current 2% would further damage the interests of savers when savings are at their lowest for 50 years. </p><p>Cameron said: "We need to make a really big change in Britain from an economy built on debt to an economy built on savings. A culture of thrift at the heart of government and a culture of saving at the heart of our economy - these changes will provide strong foundations for the new economy we plan to build."</p><p>Privately, the Tories accept that the cost, and therefore the impact, of abolishing tax on savings for basic-rate taxpayers - &pound;2.6bn - may be too high, since it is based on estimates made at a time when interest rates were much higher.</p><p>The proposal to lift tax on savings income would, the Conservatives say, simplify the tax system, since banks would no longer have to withhold 20% of interest income at source, and people on low incomes who currently do not pay tax at 20% would no longer be forced to apply for their money back.</p><p>In practice, a third of savers already have their savings in tax-free Isas, and yesterday's initiative by the Tories may prompt Brown (planning a tour of English regions starting tomorrow) to raise the maximum amount of income that can be invested in an Isa tax-free, currently &pound;7,200. </p><p>The Tories denied that helping savers would take money out of the economy. They argued that advisers to the Obama administration are suggesting that tax cuts are three times as effective at raising growth as spending increases.</p><p>More broadly, Cameron insisted he was optimistic that his policy package was winning converts: the government's 2.5% VAT cut in December had been "a criminal waste" of &pound;12.5bn of taxpayers' money, saying the government might as well have burnt the cash.</p><p>Cameron also repeated his call for a government insurance scheme to back banks lending to customers and businesses. The Treasury is looking at a similar scheme, but the government will be determined to present any proposal as sharply different to the Conservatives' socialisation of credit.</p><h2>Parties' policies</h2><p><strong>Labour plans</strong></p><p>? Cut VAT by 2.5%at cost of &pound;11bn to stimulate demand.</p><p>? Consider second round of help for banks following &pound;50bn recapitalisation, but put the idea of more government cash for banks on the back burner.</p><p>? Create 100,000 jobs by advancing extra capital investment directed at green jobs and school building.</p><p>? Publish interim report on digital Britain.</p><p>? Encourage ailing firms to switch staff to part-time work and allow staff to train for remainder of time.</p><p>? Consider bringing forward extension of school leaving age. </p><p>? Allow mortgage holders in difficulty to have a two-year interest rate holiday.</p><p>? Consider help for savers in March budget.</p><p><strong>Tory plans </strong></p><p>? &pound;50bn national loan guarantee scheme to help free up credit for business. Focused on short-term credit lines, overdrafts and trade credit - the lifelines all businesses need to keep afloat. </p><p>? &pound;3bn tax breaks to reward companies who take on new staff. </p><p>? Small businesses to enjoy six-month VAT holiday. </p><p>? An environmental stockmarket, where green companies are listed and traded.</p><p>? No tax to be paid on savers' incomes for basic rate taxpayers. Help 5 million taxpaying pensioners by increasing personal allowances. </p><p>? Commission report on how UK households will have access to high-speed broadband internet within next 10 years.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/davidcameron">David Cameron</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/conservatives">Conservatives</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/economy">Economic policy</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/gordon-brown">Gordon Brown</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/taxandspending">Tax and spending</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/creditcrunch">Credit crunch</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/small-business">Small business</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/banking">Banking</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/recession">Recession</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/banks">Banks and building societies</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/savings">Savings</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/incometax">Income tax</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/tax">Tax</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/policy">Public services policy</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/public-finance">Public finance</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Politics&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231244525565010612285842080"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Politics&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231244525565010612285842080" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
Company league tables to reveal male-female pay gap
Government draws up amendment to equality bill which will require firms to publish pay band statistics
Editorial: Give and take
Editorial: Community schemes bankrolled by big City firms are already facing the axe
Report reveals grimy reality of British hotels
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/98573?ns=guardian&pageName=Travel%3A+Mould+on+the+mattress%2C+soiled+toilet+seat+-+welcome+to+tourism%27s+new+boom+sector&ch=Travel&c3=The+Guardian&c4=Hotels%2CUnited+Kingdom+%28Travel%29%2CBudget+travel%2CTravel%2CTravel+and+leisure+industry+%28Business%29%2CBusiness%2CConsumer+affairs+%28Money%29%2CMoney%2CUK+news&c5=Personal+Finance%2CBusiness+Markets%2CBusiness+Travel%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CHotels%2CUK+Travel&c6=Rachel+Williams&c7=2009_01_06&c8=1142451&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Travel&c12=Hotels&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FTravel%2FHotels" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>Now that the boutique hotel trappings of Egyptian cotton sheets, walk-in slate showers and elegant dark wood have been adopted by even the most modest places to stay, tourists might think we live in an era of luxury for all. </p><p>But a report from undercover hotel inspectors published today reveals a grimier reality beneath the surface of the British hospitality industry.</p><p>Researchers for Which? Holiday magazine who checked into 16 budget hotels in London and Manchester pretending to be ordinary guests found mouldy mattresses, stained duvets and dirty toilets at some leading chains. Ibis performed "particularly badly", the team said, and Travelodge was also criticised in their report.</p><p>The results of the investigation come as domestic tourism is preparing for a boom, with credit-squeezed holidaymakers tightening their belts, and cost-conscious business travellers trading down.</p><p>Despite these favourable conditions, Which? said it was concerned by the standards of cleanliness it found.</p><p>The team, consisting of a researcher and a microbiologist, said their "most disturbing" discovery was a mattress in the Ibis on Charles Street, Manchester, which was so badly soiled that the cover had started to fray and mould had begun to grow. A duvet at the Ibis on Portland Street in the same city was stained, with the microbiologist suggesting one of the marks was blood. There was "something sticky on the bedside table surface", the report added.</p><p>The Ibis Euston in London was home to the dirtiest toilet the researchers found, with urine and faeces around the edge of the seat and urine streaked down the pedestal, according to the report. On the bedroom floor they observed a stray fingernail and food debris.</p><p>Which? said bathrooms at the five Travelodges it visited were unclean and it was concerned that bacteria found in four of the rooms could indicate poor cleaning.</p><p>At the chain's Gray's Inn Road hotel in London, inspectors found "appalling" levels of dust under the bed. "It was so bad that when we kicked the carpet, dust rose before our eyes and our consultant's footprint was left outlined on the floor. The wall behind the curtains was also thick with ground-in dirt, which contained a handprint streaked down the wall."</p><p>At Blackfriars Street in Manchester, a Travelodge room had mould around the bath, and in Ancoats Street the inspectors found a stained duvet and mattress.</p><p>Which? Holiday's researcher, Amanda Diamond, said the results were a surprise. "When we set out to do the report we really thought we would find nothing; we thought it would be more to do with comparing budget hotel chains, given that the market is growing and more people are looking for cheaper rooms in the current economic climate. We took a microbiologist as a precaution. We certainly didn't expect to find rooms in such poor condition."</p><p>Research published by Travelodge this week suggested that more than half of Britons plan to stay in the UK for their summer break this year. Overseas travel declined by 10.5% in October, according to the Office for National Statistics, and trips to Spain - British tourists' favourite destination by far - fell 15% last year, the Spanish tourism ministry said.</p><p>Whitbread, which owns Premier Inn, plans to double its rooms in the UK to 55,000 within five years while Travelodge hopes to have 55 new properties by 2015 and raise capacity from 24,600 rooms to 70,000 by 2020.</p><p>Lorna Cowan, editor of Which? Holiday, said: "Although this investigation was just a snapshot, it does raise concerns about the cleanliness of some budget hotel chains. It's clear from our research that some of the hotels are getting it right when appropriate cleaning methods are being used. Paying guests should be guaranteed, at the very least, a clean room. </p><p>"There doesn't seem to be one single accepted standard for hygiene in hotels across the UK, and we would like to see this change." </p><p>An Ibis spokesman said: "Ibis treats matters of cleanliness and hygiene as critically important. We were, therefore, very disappointed to see the results of the investigation which showed standards that are totally unacceptable to us. </p><p>"We have clear procedures in place to ensure that housekeeping standards are to the highest levels. Clearly the Which? investigation indicates that those procedures are not being implemented in some cases and we have taken immediate remedial actions to ensure we deliver the standards of cleanliness that all our guests have the right to expect.</p><p>"We have submitted the results Which? obtained to an established independent health and safety consultant, who has confirmed that nothing in those results constitutes a danger to public health."</p><p>A Travelodge spokesman said the chain rejected any suggestion that Which? or its customers should be concerned at the level of bacteria found. "According to a leading independent microbiologist that reviewed Which's findings, the levels of bacteria found were so low that they could not cause any health risk whatsoever.</p><p>"With regard to the isolated incidents of dust, we would like to reassure customers that we immediately remedied these cases through strengthening of cleaning procedures and superior cleaning materials.</p><p>"Our six million customers should always enjoy a good quality stay, so this report has helped us by highlighting a handful of cases where we needed to improve."</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/hotels">Hotels</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/uk">United Kingdom</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/budget">Budget travel</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/travelleisure">Travel & leisure</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/consumeraffairs">Consumer affairs</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Travel&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231244525651010612285842080"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Travel&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231244525651010612285842080" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
Jill Kirby: David Cameron's proposed tax cuts are sensible, but don't go far enough
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/84693?ns=guardian&pageName=Comment+is+free%3A+Cameron%27s+economic+plan+lacks+vision&ch=Comment+is+free&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=David+Cameron%2CPolitics%2CEconomic+policy%2CConservatives%2CGordon+Brown%2CMoney%2CTax+%28Money%29%2CSavings+%28Money%29%2CBusiness%2CRecession+%28UK%29&c5=Personal+Finance%2CCredit+Crunch%2CBusiness+Markets%2CNot+commercially+useful&c6=Jill+Kirby&c7=2009_01_05&c8=1142408&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Comment+is+free&c12=blog&c13=&c14=Comment+is+free&h2=GU%2FComment+is+free%2Fblog%2FComment+is+free" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>To make an upbeat speech about the British economy on a bleak January morning in the midst of a painful and deepening financial crisis might seem a task reserved to the recklessly optimistic. Today, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jan/05/davidcameron-conservatives">David Cameron attempted</a> such a <a href="http://www.conservatives.com/News/Speeches/2008/12/David_Cameron_Britains_Economic_Future.aspx">speech</a>, determined to leaven his stern critique of Gordon Brown's economic policies with "the vision thing".</p><p>As Cameron's Conservatives become more trenchant in their criticism of what <a href="http://politics.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Archive/0,,649666,00.html">Cameron</a> termed "Labour's debt crisis", the edict has gone out that Tories must not appear to revel in the political opportunities provided by the downturn. And the media-savvy Conservative leader knows that audiences will turn away from a negative message. They want to hear some good news.</p><p>Justifiably, they also want to know if ? and how ? a Conservative government would handle things differently. So what is the vision for Britain that Cameron is sketching out? Not exactly utopian, he describes it as "an economy where government and its citizens live within their means, save for a rainy day, waste not and want not". It's also "a better balanced economy where we spread ownership and opportunity" and where we "work to live, not live to work". In other words, there's more to life than money, cherish what you have and don't expect a return to the days of high living and high spending.</p><p>To set us on the path to this new Britain, Cameron ? sensibly enough ? proposes some tax incentives for savers (abolishing basic rate tax for savings) and relief for pensioners (a £2,000 increase in their tax allowance). These are the two large groups whose financial security is damaged by the savage cuts in interest rates that the government and the monetary policy committee seem to consider the tool to get lending moving again (though with little evidence of success so far). The Tory proposals will win plaudits from "justice for savers" campaigners, not least in the right-leaning press.</p><p>Importantly, they provide specific examples of Tory tax cuts aimed at restoring a savings culture, in sharp contrast to the government's spend now, pay later approach.</p><p>The modest nature of the tax cuts makes it relatively easy for the Tories to claim that they will be paid for by restraining spending growth to 1% in all departments except NHS, education, defence and international development.</p><p>Cameron's reference to "2009 spending", however, makes it unclear whether he is promising future Tory restraint or simply recommending government action for the year in hand, and this needs to be spelt out. So, a little cheer for most of us and a few signposts to the spending restraint, tax cuts and good housekeeping that Cameron believes would characterise a future Conservative government. </p><p>Good as far as it goes, but it seems all too likely that the package will be overtaken by events. I suspect it will not be long before Brown is compelled to announce his own real-time spending cuts, as it will become impossible for him to sustain the illusion that public sector Britain can grow while commercial Britain implodes. As Cameron rightly pointed out yesterday, it's "back to the 70s" (or worse) for the government. The Conservatives are whistling the first few bars of the tune to help us out of this mess but their vision needs to spell out much more clearly the shape of a Britain where the public sector is small enough to live within the means of its revenue-producing citizens.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/davidcameron">David Cameron</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/economy">Economic policy</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/conservatives">Conservatives</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/gordon-brown">Gordon Brown</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/tax">Tax</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/savings">Savings</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/recession">Recession</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Commentisfree&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231244525683010612285842080"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Commentisfree&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231244525683010612285842080" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
David Cameron tax plans: who would benefit?
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/49981?ns=guardian&pageName=Politics%3A+David+Cameron+tax+plans%3A+who+would+benefit%3F&ch=Politics&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=David+Cameron%2CEconomic+policy%2CPolitics%2CUK+news%2CTax+and+spending%2CTax+%28Money%29%2CMoney%2CBusiness%2CSociety%2CCredit+crunch+%28Business%29%2CSmall+business+%28Business%29%2CBanking+%28Business%29%2CRecession+%28UK%29%2CBanks+and+building+societies%2CSavings+%28Money%29%2CIncome+tax%2CPublic+services+policy+%28Society%29%2CPublic+finance+%28Society%29&c5=Society+Weekly%2CUnclassified%2CPersonal+Finance%2CInvestments%2CCredit+Crunch%2CPolicy+Society%2CBusiness+Markets%2CNot+commercially+useful&c6=Andrew+Sparrow&c7=2009_01_05&c8=1142405&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Politics&c12=blog&c13=&c14=Politics+blog&h2=GU%2FPolitics%2Fblog%2FPolitics+blog" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>David Cameron proposed two tax cuts today, affecting savers and pensioners (and pensioners with an income from savings, who conceivably could benefit twice). As I write it is not entirely clear how many people could benefit, and by how much ? not least because the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which is normally relied upon to produce authoritative figures, suffered a power cut this afternoon (maybe we are going back to the 1970s?). But this is what we know so far:</p><p><strong></strong><h2><strong>Pensioners</strong></h2><p> The Tories would raise age-related personal allowances for pensioners by £2,000. They say that this would benefit those aged between 65 and 74 with pension income and other earnings between £9,490 and £32,930.</p><p>According to the IFS, most pensioners in this category would gain £400 a year. Those near the top or the bottom of the scale would gain less.</p><p>Around 5 million pensioners would benefit. But Labour point out that 60% of pensioners do not pay any tax at all, so the gains would only go to those who were relatively well off.</p><p><strong></strong><h2><strong>Savers</strong></h2><p> The Tories would abolish the basic rate of tax on savings. The Tories say that there are around 18 million people who receive interest from savings who would benefit.</p><p>Given that the Tories say the tax cut would cost £2.6bn, this suggests an average saving of £144 a year. But this figure is almost certainly misleading because some people will have disproportionately large sums saved up. The Tories admit that some individuals could save as much as £7,200 from their tax cut, although they have not said how many.</p><p>Labour say that, according to Treasury figures, anyone with an income worth less than £30,000 a year will benefit by less than £5 a year.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/davidcameron">David Cameron</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/economy">Economic policy</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/taxandspending">Tax and spending</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/tax">Tax</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/creditcrunch">Credit crunch</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/small-business">Small business</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/banking">Banking</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/recession">Recession</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/banks">Banks and building societies</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/savings">Savings</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/incometax">Income tax</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/policy">Public services policy</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/public-finance">Public finance</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Politics&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231244525722010612285842080"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Politics&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231244525722010612285842080" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
Girlguiding UK launches series of guides to help 16-18 year olds learn life skills
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/77920?ns=guardian&pageName=Money%3A+Credit+crunch+survival+tactics+for+girl+guides&ch=Money&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Borrowing+and+debt%2CMoney%2CYoung+people+%28Society%29%2CCredit+crunch+%28Business%29%2CFamily+finances&c5=Personal+Finance%2CCredit+Crunch%2CChildren+Society&c6=Staff+and+agencies&c7=2009_01_05&c8=1142379&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Money&c12=Borrowing+%26+debt&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FMoney%2FBorrowing+%26+debt" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>Forget homemaking and knot-tying, girl guides are being issued with tips on financial matters to help them survive the credit crunch.</p><p>In a leaflet for its members, <a href="http://www.girlguiding.org.uk/" title="">Girlguiding UK</a> recommends that they avoid using store cards, shop around for bank accounts and products and protect themselves from identity theft. It also suggests they stop relying on the bank of mum and dad, warning: "Don't assume that your parents will be able to foot the bill for everything you want ? or bail you out when you owe money."</p><p>The advice is included in the first of a series of guides aimed to help 16-18 year olds learn important skills. Money management was chosen as the launch subject after a poll of young members by Girlguiding UK found that 93% thought it was the one skill every girl should have.</p><p>The guide says: "With the recent credit crunch and financial markets in turmoil, we are all going to feel the pinch. By developing good habits now you will be better equipped to manage your money as an adult."</p><p>Staying safe on the streets is the subject of the second guide - produced with the help of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust - after almost all the girls polled revealed they worried about walking home alone after dark.</p><p>Guides are told never to use unlicensed cabs or use mobiles or mp3 players when walking home, to change into flat shoes instead of tottering in heels and to cross the road if they think they are being followed.</p><p>Denise King, chief executive of Girlguiding UK, said: "As UK's largest organisation providing a safe female-only space for girls and young women, we see it as our responsibility to give girls and young women the knowledge to confidently and knowledgeably deal with the new experiences they face growing up.</p><p>"These guides are intended to give girls confidence in dealing with issues they have voiced concern about, helping them to understand and overcome any potential hazards."</p><p>David Whitely a spokesman for the Financial Services Authority said, "This is a very helpful initiative from Girlguiding as we believe it's important for young people to learn the basics on how to manage money early on. They will then have more confidence when it comes to making more important money decisions as they get older."</p><p>Top tips from Guiding's Guide to managing money</p><p>1. Shop around - see which banks are offering the best deals</p><p>2. Avoid the debt trap - be wary of loans, store cards and borrowing off your mates</p><p>3. Bargain hunt and compare prices - can you get it cheaper online?</p><p>4. Forget fashion fads - as Yves Saint Laurent said "fashion fades, style is eternal"</p><p>5. Just the job - get work experience and give yourself a head-start</p><p>6. Don't rely on the bank of mum and dad - everyone's cutting costs</p><p>7. Know your enemy - understand how fraudsters work, shred documents and only use trusted websites</p><p>8. Get geeky - make sure you know your APR from your ISA</p><p>9. Choose wisely - think carefully about your purchases to avoid disappointment on a limited budget</p><p>10. Be restrained - know your budget limits and don't stray beyond them</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/debt">Borrowing & debt</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/youngpeople">Young people</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/creditcrunch">Credit crunch</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/familyfinance">Family finances</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231244525748010612285842080"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231244525748010612285842080" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>

You should never try to market any product that people couldn't care less about. Do this and you are doomed to fail. Always remember that the market for your products or services comes first, and the product or service must be something that people actually want. In addition, it is best that the company who offers the product or service has a proven marketing system in place to help you promote them.

#5 - Many home based business opportunities force you to become a salesperson. Yes, you will have to do some selling in any home business, it just can't be avoided. However, you should not have to spend your days cold calling leads or trying to sell ice to Eskimo’s. Don't get into one of these businesses or you will get burned out quickly, unless you love to sell. There should already be an established market for the product or service and a system in place to eliminate as much of the "selling" as possible.

#6 - Some home based business opportunities pay small sums of money and no residual income. Stay far away from these! If you market products or services that don't sell for very much money and don't offer any residual income, it's going to be almost impossible for you to make any real money or obtain financial freedom. There are plenty of opportunities out there where you can make a good amount of money per sale as well as earn residual income. It takes the same amount of effort on your part so don't waste it on anything less!

So, there you have it... six more reasons why your home based businesses will fail if you are not careful. Do your homework and look for potential problems with any home based business opportunity before you get in it. Make sure it doesn't have the problems outlined above, and then make an informed decision.

I want to leave you with the same final thought as my last article on this topic... No opportunity is perfect in every way. Don't waste your life searching for it because it doesn't exist! Just find one good home based business opportunity and stick with it.

Trent Brownrigg has run a successful home business for almost four years. He is a full time internet marketer and online business coach. He recommends - http://honest-income-program.com - to anyone looking to work at home. You can find his home based business opportunity website at http://www.work-at-home-jobs-iowa.com.

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runescape money making guild

4 ways of making money number 2 isnt that good lolz and i messd number 4 up abit lolz. anyways hope you like. i do not own runescape i make videos for entertainment purposes only. all the songs used have been bought from wwww.amazon.com